[TowerTalk] Erection permit in hand

[Bob Duckworth]

With a bit of effort, the S403 my be up before winter.

This is for a LM-470 with a Mosley S403 on top and I live
in 'The City of Atlanta' on a lot that is about 190' deep
40' across the front and 100 feet across the back.

1) Zoning, no problem. Towers to 70' are permitted for licensed amateur
     radio. Municipal code says a copy of the license is required with the
     application but they didn't ask for it. ( http://www.atlanta.org and
look at
     municipal code for some interesting reading about signs and noise
     and what you can do in your own yard)

2) Site Development sent me to the City Arborist. She was happy that
     in anticipation of taking out the tree 12 years ago, I had planted a
     number of replacements and not only approved taking out a 90 year
     old Oak but helped me decide on species of some additional trees 
     planned for the front  and side yards.

3) Bureau of buildings. A snag. Aforementioned code requires a permit
     for any new construction. This means a dog house, a clothes line, a 
     fence post, as well as a garage or a tower. The city did not want to
issue
     a permit based on the Tri-Ex engineering specs and drawings because
     of implied liability should the thing fall down (they said this). They
said
     they would be happy if I obtained a seal from a Ga PE (professional
     engineer). California PE seal is available from Tri-Ex but the city
won't
     accept and there is no reciprocity. The Ca Engineer has to apply for a

     GA seal just like he would if he wanted to practice here. It took
almost
     a week and visits to a couple of engineering firms before I found a 
     structural guy who was reasonable. Most told me it would cost less to
     have them do a new design from scratch and build that than to have
     them review the Tri-Ex engineering. Finally found a U Mass grad who 
     did it free lance for $200. Interestingly he found an error in the
Tri-Ex
     calculations but it is to the tower owners benefit :-).  The 
engineer,
     Christian Oji, wants to get his ham license! Anyway, this satisfied
'buildings'
     and after paying the $30 fee, I obtained a permit.

So now I've got to dig a 3.5' x 3.5' x 7' hole, tie some rebar, pour some
concrete
and while waiting 30 days for the concrete to strengthen, take out a big
old Oak,
do some 'power line' pruning on a number of other 70' trees, re-cable the
LM470,
find a prop pitch motor or other hefty rotator and a mast, find a motor to
run 
winch, fab some limit switches, buy some feed line (open wire!), find a
deal on
some 3" tubing for a new boom for the S403, and find a new spring for the
tower. 

I've never had anything other than dipoles and the 80m vertical loop and
various
verticals around here and am hoping that 40m will be more productive after
all
the effort and expense. Any info on tricks with this antenna is welcome.

Gonna try some 20m Quad elements on the 40m boom when spring comes :-)
The other thing I'd like to try is feeding the tower against the S403 on
80m.
Will initially try some sort of shunt feed but may end up using a piece of
fiberglass
in the mast.  Will use some DPST vacuum relays to short the elements to the

boom for this.

-bob
wb4mnf


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